The rise of convenience culture in beauty, wellness and healthcare retail

We live in an age of convenience. From Uber Eats to contactless payments, the 21st century has been defined by streamlined living and on-demand services, and no industry has escaped its grasp. This includes beauty, wellness, and healthcare retail, where convenience is thriving.

Learn more about how convenience culture has affected health and beauty ecommerce, and what the future of this industry will look like in this guide.

What Is Convenience Culture?

Convenience culture is centred around completing actions as simply as possible. It champions a low-effort approach that reduces friction for an easier, more streamlined life.

Largely, convenience culture has been driven by technology. Smartphones and the internet are central to this societal shift, transforming traditional tasks into digitally-powered, convenient services. As we step into the dawn of AI, we’re also heading towards a new world of easier living.

How it’s Affecting Beauty, Wellness, and Healthcare

The beauty, wellness, and healthcare retail industry has well and truly embraced convenience culture.

On the whole, this is in response to consumer demand. Most shoppers want products and services that meet their needs in the simplest way possible. 91% of ecommerce consumers, for instance, choose where they shop based on next-day delivery options (interestingly, fewer than half are willing to pay extra for the perk).

Opting for convenience is good news for business profits, too. In the UK, the convenience market is worth over £47 billion, making it an incredibly lucrative consumer behaviour to tap into.

But how is this shaping current beauty trends and the health retail industry? Let’s take a closer look.

The Rise of Ecommerce

Ecommerce isn’t a niche anymore. It now makes up the bulk of how consumers shop, including when it comes to health, wellness, and beauty.

1 in 5 people now shop through online pharmacies, for instance. These ecommerce spaces offer a huge range of health products, from the rise in popularity of weight loss treatments like the Wegovy pill to everyday sexual health essentials, consumers are turning to ecommerce platforms as a way to address and manage private health concerns from the comfort of home.

Online beauty shopping is a vast and popular corner of the industry, too. Consumers can browse and buy thousands of products from the comfort of their home or on the go, making it easier than ever to purchase skincare, haircare, and makeup.

This isn’t a trend that businesses can afford to ignore. With a whopping 43% of consumers purchasing their health and beauty items either all or mostly online, to avoid the ecommerce boom is to miss out on a huge chunk of British buyers.

Personalised Experiences and Self-Care

Convenience culture hasn’t just changed how consumers buy beauty, wellness, and healthcare products; it’s also transformed customer experience. Technology has reshaped how retailers interact with shoppers, delivering more personalised and accessible services without the friction.

Key examples of convenience-focused technology in this corner of the industry include:

• Personalised product recommendations
• Virtual makeup try-ons
• AI-powered health and beauty quizzes
• Tailored online subscriptions

It’s also worth discussing telehealth. We’ve seen virtual consultations transform how British people take control of their health, with online appointments and diagnostic apps allowing consumers to access support from home. It’s cheaper on travel, saves time, and improves accessibility for people who struggle to reach their GP in person.

Seamless Automation

Convenience culture has led directly to the rise of subscription services in health and beauty. Beauty is among the top 3 most popular categories for subscription boxes, for instance, and we’re seeing a huge number of brands offer their products on subscription models. Some of the most notable include:

• Wild
• Skin + Me
• Dermatica
• Wild Nutrition
• Zoe

By automating purchasing, it’s far easier for customers to stay stocked up with all their essential health and beauty favourites. They don’t need to do anything once the service is set up and their products are delivered on a regular schedule for simplified repurchasing.

It’s a smart move for businesses, too; lock your customers into a subscription, and they’re less likely to shop elsewhere when their product runs out.

Less In-Store Browsing

The likes of at-home delivery and click and collect have made ordering products easier than ever. For consumers, this is excellent, but for businesses, it’s had a huge impact on foot traffic.

We’re seeing a vast number of health, wellness, and beauty shops closing their high street doors. Boots, the undisputed leader of health and beauty in the UK, closed 300 shops in 2024, and they’re far from the only ones. Even with in-store click and collect, high street shops simply can’t keep up with ecommerce convenience.

It’s worth noting that, while closing their shops, Boots’ profits actually increased in 2024 by 7.7%. It’s not that the brand is struggling, but that they’re pivoting to the area of retail that’s seeing the most profit.

This is true across the industry. It’s not unusual to see health and beauty shops close their high street doors, but the industry itself is thriving, with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.64%, leading to a worth of £54 billion by 2034. This isn’t about a lack of business, but simply where that business is.

The Future of Health and Beauty Retail

The future of health and beauty retail is set to become faster, smarter, and more personalised as convenience culture continues to shape consumer expectations. We’re likely to see:

• AI-powered product recommendations: These will tailor recommendations to individual skin types, health concerns, and wellness goals.
• Virtual consultations and skin analytics: Consumers will have wider access to advice from home, whether through AI consultations and analytics, or virtual consultations with a human.
• Smart subscriptions and predictive ordering: Automated ordering is likely to become more widespread, with products arriving before the customer runs out for a seamless experience.
• Faster delivery services: Same-day delivery will be the next aim for businesses that have already conquered next-day delivery, bringing exceptional convenience and service to consumers.

• Growth in wearable wellness technology: More brands will jump on the wearable tech trend, making it easier for consumers to monitor their health for a holistic approach to their customer experience.

• A hybrid approach: Brands that retain high-street shops are likely to blend their in-store and ecommerce strategies, creating a seamless transition between the two.

Final Thoughts

Convenience culture has undoubtedly altered the way we consume in the health, beauty, and wellness sectors. The industry is evolving at lightning speed, and it’s vital that businesses keep up if they want to stay ahead.

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